Printing apparatus



Nov. 30, 1965 1.. c. PRICE, JR 3,220,341

PRINTING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 22,. 1963 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l NVEN TORZea/Z5 CZP/z'ce J2;

ATTORNEY5 i Nov. 30, 1965 Filed Nov. 22, 1963 L. c. PRICE, JR 3,220,341

PRINTING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Zewzk 611 7286,

M BY ATTORNEYS United States Iatent O 3,220,341 PRINTING APPARATUS LewisC. Price, Jr., Yonkers, N.Y., assignor to Control Print MachineryManufactures Corporation, a corporation of New York Filed Nov. 22, 1963,Ser. No. 325,713 4 Claims. (Cl. 101-35) This invention relates tomarking apparatus. In particular the invention is concerned with a novelprinting roll and support assembly wherein the assembly may bepractically universally used, regardless of the conditions existing atthe place of such use.

Prior marking roll assemblies have been subject to serious limitationsbecause each has been designed for special application to any .givenindividual problem. For example, the mountings used in previousstructures required separate parts for either rightor left-handoperation. Further, adjustment of the inking roll relative to theprinting roll involved cumbersome adjustments, best carried out by anexperienced printer. Conversion of the printing system from one type ofinking roll to another usually requires replacement of the entireassembly. Further difiiculties are experienced due to unreliablemounting brackets for such assemblies. These and other troublesomematters are overcome by the present invention which includes variousnovel features adapted to make the device herein disclosed adaptable toany given situation with an absolute minimum of'manipulation,rearrangement of parts, or difiicult adjustments.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to produce a novel codemarking assembly.

A further object of the invention is to provide a universal markingdevice.

Another object of the invention is to produce a marking assemblyadaptable very simply to rightor left-hand operation.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a bracket assemblywhich assures positive and secure locking of the assembly to any givenframe or framework.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a novel and usefulreset mechanism for returning the printing roll to its initial zeroposition.

Another object of the invention is to produce an inking roll systemwhich through the use of interchangeable parts will adapt the system foruse in almost every given condition at the printing roll.

Further, an additional object of the invention is toprovide a uniquemounting system for ink rolls whereby the pressure of the ink rollagainst the printing roll may be conveniently and quickly adjusted.

Still a further object of the invention is to produce a new printingcylinder arrangement.

These and other objects of the invention not specifically referred tobut, none-the-less inherent therein may be ac- .complished by providinga pivotally mounted arm, biasing said arnr relative to a stationarysupporting shaft at one end by means of a compression spring whereby thearm may be biased either in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction;the arm having mounted thereon a slide block actuated by means of afloating screw such that an inking roll mounted on the slide block maybe moved toward and away from a printing roll carried by the oppositeterminal end of the arm; means are also provided whereby the printingcylinder or roll may be returned to a preselected zero position by a camand spring arrangement while at the same time rearrangement of theinking roll printing roll system can be accomplished by providing afloating transfer roll between the inking roll and printing roll.

Additionally a novel'printing roll is provided wherein 3,229,341Patented Nov. 30, was

a series of rubber rings in contiguous relation are retained emplaced onthe base cylinder by means of a cap or cover held in place by springfingers.

The invention herein will be clearly understood by consideration of thefollowing detailed description thereof, reference being made to theappended drawings, wherein,

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the invention partly in section showing indetail the biasing means,

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing a variation in the inkingsystem,

FIG. 3 is a partial side sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG.2,

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the mounting bracket shown in FIG. 3,taken along the line 44 thereof,

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view taken along the line 55 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 6 is a top plan view with certain parts removed of the resetmechanism taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 5,

FIG. 7 is an elevational sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG.2, and

FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of a printing roll constructed accordingto the invention.

Turning initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be seen that there isprovided an arm 10 having one end 1 pivotally connected, as will bedescribed to a supporting standard 2. The opposite or free terminal endof arm 1 carries a printing roll 20 journaled for rotation thereon.

Midway between the terminal ends of arm 1, there 1s provided an inkingroll 3. The roll 3 is mounted on a slide block 5 (FIG. 3) which ismovable along the arm by means of a screw 6 which may be turned by meansof a knurled operator 7.

The fixed end 1 of arm 10 is mounted on standard 2 so as to pivotrelative thereto. Thus standard 2 is provided with a lock ring 8. Asuitable Oilite or other bushing member is placed on standard 2 andbears against the ring 8. The arm 10 is apertured and includes atrunnion 11 which in turn surrounds bushing 9. A further bearing member12 in the form of a fiat washer is placed on the standard 2 and it inturn is topped by a stop member 13 which is keyed at 14 to the standard2 being held in place by a bolt and washer 15, 16 respectively.

The pivoted end of arm 10 is bifurcated so that extending outwardly andrearwardly of the arm 10 are a pair of ear members 18 and 19 which areapertured horizontally at 21, 22 to receive a spring member 23 whlch isheld in place at one end by a screw 24 threadedly engaged within theaperture 21 or 22 selectively. The opposite end of spring 23 bearsagainst a tongue 26 whlch extends rearwardly from the stop member 13 anddownwardly between the bifurcated ends 18, 19 of the arm 10. Since stopmember 13 is keyed to standard 2 and the latter, in turn, isnon-rotatably fixed to frame F, as will be described, it may be seen,that as shown in FIG. 1 the spring 23 continuously bases the arm 10 in acounterclockwise direction such that pressure against printing roll 20tending to move the arm 10 clockwise will be resiliently resisted byspring 23. Thus, firm, but yielding contact, is established between theprinting cylinder 20 and, for example, an article B to be printed uponas it is conveyed to the left (as seen in FIG. 1).

When it is desired to change the assembly from rightto left-handoperation, the right-hand operation being illustrated in FIG. 1, then itis quite a simple matter merely to remove the screw 24, spring 23 fromthe car 18 and insert same into aperture 22 in ear 19 whereupon the arm10 will be biased in the opposite or clockwise direction. Thisarrangement completely eliminates the use of torsion springs as havebeen used in the past and also eliminates the necessity for stackingrightand left-hand parts as also was and is customary in the case oftorsion spring mountings.

Turning now to FIG. 3, along with FIG. 2, it will be seen that arm 10 atapproximately its midpoint, is slit longitudinally intermediate itsends. The configuration of this opening 31 is generally cruciform so asto accommodate in freely rotatable relation screw member 6 and theoperator 7 therefor. One end of screw member 6 is surrounded by a springmember 33 having one end confined within the interior of operator 7 andits opposite end bearing against a cup shaped washer 34 which is seatedagainst the end wall of the cruciform aperture 31. The opposite end ofthe screw 6 is fixed as by insertion into a suitable aperture in and toa movable block as by a set screw or pin member, the block havingslotted sides so as to be engaged by and slidable along the side wallsof slot 31. Block member 5 in turn carries a spindle 36 adapted toreceive inking roll 3 as will be described hereinafter. Thus as theoperator 7 is turned the threaded engagement beween itself and screw. 6will cause the screw and slide block to move longitudinally of arm inwhichever direction it is desired to move same. Because the iack screw 6is fioatingly mounted in arm 10 it will accommodate quite readily anymisalignment which might exist between block 6 and the sides of slot 31and thus the operation of the assembly is quite smooth and free fromobjectional bending of the block 5 or screw 6 noticeable in most suchassemblies. Thus, also, the inking roll carried by spindle 36 canreadily be moved toward and away from the printing cylinder to assurecorrect pressure between the surface of the printing cylinder plates andthe surface of the inking roll 3.

Turning now to FIGS. 5 and 6, the mounting and reset means for theprinting cylinder 20 will now be described in detail. As shown in FIG.5, the free end of arm 10 is provided with a trunnion 41 which isvertically apertured and in turn carries bearings 43, 44 therein.Iournaled for rotation in these bearings is a shaft 45 providedintermediate its ends with a cam member 46 formed integrally therewith.The underside of the cam member 46 rests on hearing 44 while the lowerend of shaft 45 is provided with a screw and washer assembly 47, 48 toretain the shaft in place on arm 10.

The cam member 46 which is eccentric with respect to shaft 45 obviouslyrotates therewith and is provided on its upper surface with a small pinor projection 50, which pin engages a recess provided in the printingroll or cylinder 20 so that as the surface of the cylinder is rotated bycontact with an object to be printed the cylinder 20, shaft 45 and cam46 will be rotated.

For the purpose of biasing the shaft 45 back to a zero position, theouter periphery of cam 46 is surrounded by a biasing ring 52 which ringis formed of an oil impregnated metal and which ring also is freelyrotatable about cam 46. Looped around the exterior of ring 52, which issuitably grooved, is a spring member 55 having its ends attached to pins56, 56 in turn rigidily fixed to arm 10.

It is believed apparent that as printing cylinder 20 is rotated bycontact of the contact rings 20with an article (FIG. 8) and shaft 45 andcam 46 are also rotated, the high point on the cam will move toward theend of arm 20 with the consequence that spring 55 is placed underincreasing tension tending to cause the cam to rotate back to theposition shown in FIG. 6. Thus, if cylinder 20 is rotated less than 180before an article clears the printing station, it will be rotated backto the position at which rotation began. However, if it is rotated morethan 180 then the cam 46 will continue its rotation through a full 360and again cylinder 20 will be returned to its start position as thespring 55 biases the eccentric cam 46 back to the position shown in FIG.6. It is now believed apparent that a simple but highly effective resetmechanism is provided for cylinder 20.

Returning briefly to FIG. 1, it Will be noted that cyl- 4 inder 20 maybe provided with a trip member 60 comprising an arm 61 spring biased byspring 62 in one direction. This trip assembly will be used where, forexample, it is essential that an imprinted character register withprecise accuracy on each article. The trip assembly 60 assures that,with the printing matter P positioned at any given point on thecircumference of the printing cylinder 20, it will contact each item Bat precisely the same point as the item contacts trip 60 and beginsrotation of the roll 20.

Turing again to FIGS. 1 and 2, it has been stated that these two figuresshow variations in the inking system which may be accommodated by thedescribed assembly. Thus in FIG. 1 the inking roll 3 is directly incontact with the printing surface P while in FIG. 2, the ink istransferred from inking roll 3 to the printing roll 20 via anintermediate roll 65 which is mounted as shown in FIG. 7 for universalfloating movement between the ink roll 3 and cylinder roll 20 to assurepositive contact between its peripheral surface and the surfaces ofthese respective rolls Thus, as shown in FIG. 7., intermediate roll,having a suitable ink receptive cover 66 is journaled for rotation on ashaft 67. Shaft 67 in turn is provided with squared or rectangular ends68, 68' which ends rest in slots 69, 69' (see FIG. 2) provided at theterminal ends of bracket members 7, 70. In order to retain the ends ofthe shaft 67 seated in the enlarged slots 69, 69 spring members 71, 71'are looped around the ends of bracket members 70, 70- and are fixedthereto by their ends at points removed inwardly toward the center ofthese brackets. Brackets 70, 70 are in turn carried rotatably on aspindle member 75, by suitable lock rings 76, 77 and spacer 78interposed between them. Thus it will be seen that transfer roll 70 willbe continually spring biased toward contact with the surfaces of rolls 3and 20 and can move in almost any direction to accommodate forvariations in roll surface or perhaps some vertical misalignment betweenspindle 36 and spindle 75.

As has been previously stated the entire assembly may be mounted on aframe such that printing of the desired matter on articles beingconveyed or moved by the marker is obtained. For the purpose of mountingthe standard 2 on such a frame, for example, there is provided a uniquebracket 90, illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. This bracket includes a baseportion 91 and an upstanding apertured clamping portion 92. The base 91is fixed to frame F by suitable bolts S. The clamping portion of thebracket is provided with an inclined slit 93 which leads from one sideface thereof to a central opening 94 adapted to receive the member to befastened therein, in this case standard 2. Slidably carried in the slotis a hexagonal shaped key 95 which has two of its sides engaging thewalls of the slot and a further side in engagement with standard 2. Thekey 95 is locked in clamping engagement with standard 2 by means of alock screw 96 which pierces the clamping portion of bracket andintersects with slot 93 and is threadedly engaged with key 95. Thus asdraw screw 96 is tightened the key is drawn up the inclined slot intofirm engagement with standard 2 holding same securely against any axialor rotational movement. Also associated with the assembly described is anovel printing cylinder 20 shown in detail in FIG. 8. Essentially thiselement consists of a hollow cylinder 101 having a central base 102which is apertured to receive shaft member 45. The outer cylindricalwall 103 of the cylinder is surrounded by a series of concentric looselyfitting concentric annular rings 106, which rings are generally T-shapedin configuration and are type holding members constructed to function assuggested in patent 2,222,333. In order to retain these rings in place,the top of cylinder 102 is closed by a cover member 107 positioned andheld in place by a plurality of spring fingers 108 which engage areduced portion 109 of central boss 102. Thus the entire cylinderassembly can be removed as a unit from shaft 45.

For the purpose of retaining the entire assembly on shaft 45, a handscrew 110 is provided, the threaded portion thereof engaging threadedbase 111 in shaft 45, and the head thereof being provided with anannular shoulder 112 bearing against cover 107.

Having described my invention in detail it will be apparent that variousmodifications will occur to those skilled in the art, such changes beingwithin the spirit and scope of the invention which is limited only asdefined in the claims following.

What is claimed is:

1. A printing assembly for printing on moving objects comprising amovable arm-having a free end and a pivotally mounted end; means formounting said arm adjacent articles to be imprinted with its free endpositioned so as to move toward and away from said articles; a printingmember mounted on the free end thereof for contact and imprinting ofsaid articles; the pivotally mounted end of said arm including abifurcated portion and having journal means disposed medially of thebifurcated portion to pivotally support the arm; said mounting meansincluding further a stationary part mounted thereon having outstandinglug disposed medially of said bifurcated portion with said lug extendingbetween the bifurcations defining the end portion of said arm;compression spring means biased between and acting on one of saidbifurcations so as to bias the other of said bifurcations against theopposite side of said lug and consequently position said free end ofsaid arm in a direction toward the articles to be imprinted.

2. A printing assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein said compressionspring is adjustably biased between said lug and said one bifurcation ofend portion of said arm.

3. A printing assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein the bifurcationsdefining the bifurcated end portion of said arm are identical and saidspring is positionable selectively between either one of saidbifurcations and said lug for either right or left hand operation ofsaid assembly.

4. A printing means for articles moving in a predetermined pathcomprising a pivoted arm having a free end and a journaled end; printingmeans adopted to contact the moving articles mounted on the free end ofsaid arm, said journaled end thereof including a pair of spaced terminalends defining bifurcations and a mounting means disposed mediallybetween said bifurcations; a standard receiving said mounting means,said mounting means being rotatably fixed to the standard; stop meansfixed to said standard above said mounting means, said stop meansincluding a lug member extending between said bifurcations; acompression spring mounted between and acting on said lug and one ofsaid bifurcations and means for adjusting said spring carried by saidone bifurcation whereby said arm is biased toward the articles and theother of said bifurcations engages said lug to limit said biasedmovement.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 166,162 8/1875Truworthy 101329 771,900 10/1904 Finch 101349 X 1,179,661 4/1916 Selah248--230 1,702,763 2/1929 Clark 101-349 X 2,632,383 3/1953 Gottscho eta1. 101-35 2,643,609 6/ 1953 Gottscho 101-377 2,746,380 5/1956 Gottscho10135 2,970,799 2/ 1961 Pinson 248-230 2,996,003 8/1961 Worth 101-3313,122,993 3/1964 McKay 10135 ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner.

WILLIAM B. PENN, Examiner.

1. A PRINTING ASSEMBLY FOR PRINTING ON MOVING OBJECTS COMPRISING AMOVABLE ARM HAVING A FREE END AND A PIVOTALLY MOUNTED END; MEANS FORMOUNTING SAID ARM ADJACENT ARTICLES TO BE IMPRINTED WITH ITS FREE ENDPOSITIONED SO AS TO MOVE TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAID ARTICLES; A PRINTINGMEMBER MOUNTED ON THE FREE END THEREOF FOR CONTACT AND IMPRINTING OFSAID ARTICLES; THE PIVOTALLY MOUNTED END OF SAID ARM INCLUDING ABIFURCATED PORTION AND HAVING JOURNAL MEANS DISPOSED MEDIALLY OF THEBIFURCATED PORTION TO PIVOTALLY SUPPORT THE ARM; SAID MOUNTING MEANSINCLUDING FURTHER A STATIONARY PART MOUNTED THEREON HAVING OUSTANDINGLUG DISPOSED MEDIALLY OF SAID BIFURCATED PORTION WITH SAID LUG EXTENDINGBETWEEN THE BIFURCATIONS DEFINING THE END PORTION OF SAID ARM;COMPRESSION SPRING MEANS BIASED BETWEEN AND ACTING ON ONE OF SAIDBIFURCATIONS SO AS TO BIAS THE OTHER OF SAID BIFURCATIONS AGAINST THEOPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID LUG AND CONSEQUENT POSITION SAID FREE END OF SAIDARM IN A DIRECTION TOWARD THE ARTICLES TO BE IMPRINTED.